"nobody came/cuz nobody knew": Shame and Isolation in Ntozake Shange's "abortion cycle #1"

22 CLA JOURNAL “nobody came/cuz nobody knew”: Shame and Isolation in Ntozake Shange’s“abortion cycle #1” Belinda Waller-Peterson Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf premiered in 1974, one year after the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The classic choreopoem reveals the real violence that is perpetrated against black women who, as a result of stigma and shame, are silenced and relegated to clandestine spaces to receive illegal abortions. This article examines abortion stigma as a political and social construct that reinforces the conditions that monitor, isolate, shame, and discriminate against women who try to embrace their sexual autonomy and exercise their reproductive rights. The pervasive public surveillance of women’s bodies further marginalizes an already vulnerable population: black women. And yet this same system of surveillance refuses to witness the emotional and physical violence enacted on the women who are forced into unsafe, unsanitary spaces with unlicensed abortion practitioners. Using an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates black feminist thought and literary analysis, this article investigates contemporary political initiatives designed to recreate the conditions that inform Shange’s “abortion cycle #1” and perpetuate the same cycles of violence Shange exposes and denounces throughout for colored girls. I read “abortion cycle #1” alongside Shirley Chisholm’s “Facing the Abortion Question” to emphasize the critical role literature plays in reflecting the lived experiences of black women, especially those experiences that have been stigmatized and silenced. In turning to Shange’s poetry on this specific topic and offering historical context, I amplify her commitment to engaging the richness of black women’s lives and demonstrate her work’s relevance to the ongoing debates over the politicization of black women’s wombs and reproductive justice. Shange’s for colored girls remains a foundational black feminist text that employs a full range of emotions and experiences to “sing a black girl’s song.”1 Shange incorporates dancing, touching, and chanting in her choreopoem to capture the fluidity, texture, and multi-faceted nature of black womanhood. Since its stage premiere, for colored girls remains one of the most performed and regularly revisited dramatic feminist texts of the late 20th century due to its relatability and commitment to rendering intimately complex depictions of black girls and women.2 for colored girls brilliantly captures the diverse everyday experiences of black women as they attempt to survive in a male-dominated world that dictates 1 Shange, 4. 2 See Anderson, 10. CLA JOURNAL 23 the overarching terms of success, happiness, and survival.3 Shange writes through some of the most harrowing and celebratory moments they face and the way these experiences are distinctly black yet universal in their confrontation of gender issues.4 Their singular experiences, offered throughout the choreopoem, speak to the collective experience of heartbreak, emotional betrayal, abusive relationships, date/acquaintance rape, and abortion. Shange empowers her female characters, each bearing a color of the rainbow and brown, to confront the abuse they face by naming it for themselves and turning to other women for strength, love, support, and healing. She does not shy away from confirming that her own life experiences have inspired her choreopoem and other writings. Instead, she is dedicated to telling the truth about the experiences of black women and advocates for black women to use their experiences to heal one another vis-à-vis storytelling, the creation of art, and a laying on of hands.5 Shange’s women-centered text continues a rich tradition of black female playwrights challenging racial inequalities and socio-economic injustices.6 Harlem Renaissance era writers like Angelina Weld Grimke, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Mary Burrill, and Marita Bonner paved the way for Shange’s black feminist consciousness to emerge on the stage in the latter half of the 1970s.7 Similar to black female playwrights such asAlice Childress and Lorraine Hansberry, Shange combated the stereotypes and one-dimensional representations of black women in plays by creating characters with depth, morality, and integrity. Their plays offer an alternative view of African Americans and recover the image of black women as strong and feminine, intelligent, loving, and loved. They also fought against the male-dominated Black Power...